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Category Archives: all grades

Collaborative Mural Inspired by Tula Pink

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A colorful geometric art display featuring various patterned and brightly hued triangles on a green background, inspired by Tula Pink's designs.

I wanted to share our wonderful results of this collaborative mural project inspired by the artist Tula Pink‘s Tridazzler Quilt. This idea was created by Don Masse, of Shine Brite Zamorano. Check out his blog here to see the directions for this project. Here is the Tridazzler Quilt the project was inspired by. We precut squares and triangles for the kids. First, they glued the triangle to the square. Then they used a ruler to draw the lines and then … Read more… →

Printable Positive Adjectives

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Various positive adjectives in colorful, diverse fonts, including strong, wise, happy, creative, calm, unique, and peaceful.

Hi! I have something new to share with you. I’ve been working on making these printable positive adjective sheets. They are 4 different pages of positive adjectives to describe a person. They are printed in a variety of fonts and colors. These would be fun to use with Vision Boards, self-portraits and All About Me projects. All you have to do is print these on to paper, cut out the adjectives you want and glue them to your artwork to … Read more… →

Grid Name Design for Back to School

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A colorful drawing composed of repeated text spelling "MARCIA" in various alternating colors and patterns within a grid layout on white paper, creating an eye-catching grid name design perfect for back to school.

Are you looking for an easy back to school project for your students? Here is a name design that I have taught in the past. This will be easy for you to do, with very little prep. My own kiddo did this project in their 2nd grade class and that is where I got the idea. It is so simple yet makes cool results. All you need to do is print out the grid paper and maybe make an example … Read more… →

Back to School Tips and Projects for the Art Teacher

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Back to School! Tips and Projects for Art Class" text with colorful pencils and paper boats on a black background.

Hi friends! Many schools are already going back for the new school year and I thought I would round up some previous posts you may have missed from years ago that may help you come up with some ways to start your school year off right! The first section contains links and pictures from my blog. The second section contains blog posts from some of my art teacher friends! Tips and Projects for Back to School from Art is Basic … Read more… →

Neurographic Art

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Abstract artwork featuring colorful, interconnected shapes outlined in black on a white background, resembling Neurographic Art.

Neurographic art is an art form that was designed in 2014 by a Russian psychologist named Pavel Piskarov. It is an intuitive form of art that involves mindfulness and intentionality. We have over 100 billion neurons that transmit information from the brain to the rest of the body. These neurographic artworks kind of look like neurons and cells. Piskarev’s Definition: Neurographic art is a creative method of world transformation. It helps evolve our reality by engaging our emotional and aesthetic … Read more… →

All About Me Student Survey

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A student survey titled "All About Me" with 20 personal questions, including hobbies, favorites, and future aspirations.

Hi all! I’ve been working on a few things for my classroom and I wanted to share with you one new resource that is available in my TPT shop. It is an All About Me Student Survey. This is an interest survey perfect for the first couple of days of school. As an art teacher, I will use these surveys for my students to generate ideas for an All About Me silhouette artwork. (Last year I did an all about … Read more… →

Two Places to Get Free or Cheap Materials

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A young boy stands outside holding a large red crayon. He is wearing a blue shirt with cartoon faces on it.

Hi! I know I haven’t written in awhile. I hope you are doing well and had a great school year. It’s been a challenging time and I haven’t made blogging a priority. I’m still here though and making art! Now that summer is here I have a bit more free time, so maybe I’ll catch up on sharing some things with you. I wanted to share with you a couple places to get free or cheap materials– but you have … Read more… →

Art of the Brick: Nathan Sawaya Lego Exhibit

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A sculpture by Nathan Sawaya features a human figure made of yellow LEGO bricks, ripping open its chest with bricks spilling out. This piece is part of the "Art of the Brick" Lego exhibit.

Happy Spring! It is Spring Break for us and we took a little trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. We saw an awesome Lego exhibit at the museum by artist Nathan Sawaya. If you are in the area, I definitely recommend visiting the museum to see this exhibit. My favorite pieces were the ones in which he recreated famous works of art throughout art history. There were some impressive animal sculptures as well as a fantastic … Read more… →

Watercolor Pencils and Metallic Markers Product Review

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A variety of colored pencils arranged in a gradient, ranging from yellows to greens, blues, and more, on a grid background.

I was contacted by a representative at Grabie online marketplace, which I had never heard of before. Since I love trying out new supplies, I decided to go ahead with a product review. I also love to find and share different art supplies with other art teachers. They sent me two art supplies to try out. I was not compensated for my review, other than the free supplies. I told them I would be completely honest in my review and … Read more… →

Free Valentine’s Day Word Search

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Free Valentine’s Day Word Search

Hi! Valentine’s Day is coming up and here is a fun, free word search you could give to your students. Here is the high resolution PDF version for free download. You might be interested in some of my other word searches: Winter Word Search Spring Word Search Art Word Searches Bundle Art Vocabulary Word Search I am an Artist Word Search Famous Artists Word Search Elements and Principles of Art Word Search

Thankful Turkey Bulletin Board

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Thankful Turkey Bulletin Board

We recently had everyone in our school trace their hands, cut them out and write things they are thankful for on the hands. We then used the hands as feathers for a turkey for a bulletin board. We are going to use the remaining hands for the leaves of a large tree. The other art teacher, Kathy, who is subbing for maternity leave made the body of the turkey. I think it turned out really cute!

All Are Welcome Bulletin Board

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All Are Welcome Bulletin Board

Here is a welcoming art project you can do with your students. Read the book All Are Welcome (Amazon affiliate link at no extra cost to you.) This is a great book about including everyone at school. Have each child draw a self-portrait from head to toe. Display with the heading You Are Welcome Here! We used these handouts for reference.

Art Choice Board for Elementary Subs

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Art Choice Board for Elementary Subs

Are you required to leave emergency sub plans? If so, you may want to use a choice board! My art colleague Sharon had the idea to make a choice board that can be used multiple times if there is a situation where you need to be gone unexpectedly (sickness or unexpected quarantine). Even if your school does not require this, I highly recommend having a stash of lesson plans ready to go in case you wake up sick in the … Read more… →

Easy Homemade Scratch Art

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Colorful art on a black background featuring a flower, stars, and swirls in various bright colors.

Today I am going to show you a quick and easy homemade scratch art trick which is fun for kids to try. You can make your own real scratch art paper using oil pastels and watered down black paint. Or you can buy your own scratch art paper pre-made (affiliate link). This is a fun little trick that amazes and delights kids. You can make your own scratch art paper using just crayons. Start by coloring a patchwork of colors … Read more… →

Monster Origami Bookmarks

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Monster Origami Bookmarks

My students LOVED this project. I had excellent participation for this lesson and we are fully remote. I sent home origami paper to the students in a materials bag, but kids could make their own origami paper simply by cutting a square out of a piece of white copy paper. We used the directions from Red Ted Art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVkJPCp_1UQ. I hope that this project helps add variety to your distance learning plans. I was so excited when my students were … Read more… →

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.